The Kiki vs Natt trade was one that had a lot of people scratching their heads. For people who were not around you could equate it to trading Gerald Wallace for Kevin Love both in their prime. Although Kiki was on his downward and Natt was on his upward.
Great job CC. I like that you mentioned Jake. Walt Whitman and Stacy Augman mentioned. Names from the last century. Of Course, one of my my favorites is listed as #1.
They were both totally different players. Kiki was established, he was an All Star, a high scorer. Natt was just getting to his prime. The ruggedness, the defensive prowless, fearlessness in the paint...you gotta love that in a player. The Blazers justification was that they had Kenny Carr to do those things and needed a high power scorer. I think what concerned fans more was that two other players (Lever and Cooper) were also sent to Denver along with two draft picks (a 1984 2nd and a 1985 1st). It was terribly lopsided. The Fans felt we were sending far too much. Perhaps we did. Yeah Vandegwehe came in and an averaged 23 ppg and got the Blazers to the playoffs, the 2nd rnd being the furthest. Natt averaged 23 with Denver, Lever and Cooper averaged 12 a piece. Denver got to the WCF's. While it would have hurt worse had they went all the way, it still hurt. And those picks. Luckily, they didn't turn into anyone too special. The 1984 2nd rnd pick became PG Willie White who didn't do much in his career. The 1985 1st rounder became center Blair Rasmussen who averaged at best 12 ppg with Denver. He was ok, but no terrible loss to Portland. The Blazers could have used that pick to draft Joe Dumars, but who says they would have? All in all Denver got a little further in thr playoffs. The Blazers didn't get to far in the playoffs. Neither team won a trophy out of it. Maybe Portland would have played better keeping Natt and co. Maybe not. Who knows?
What made that trade so lopsided wasn't really that we traded Natt, but we also traded Fat Lever, Wayne Cooper a first and second round pick. That trade helped make Denver relevant and we stayed about the same.
